Spoke-setting machine



mo Model.

G. P. LEWIS.

SPOKE SETTING MACHINE.

No. 321,616. Patented July 7, 1885.

ATTORNEYS.

NITED STATES ATFNT @rrrcn.

CHARLES I. LEW'IS, OF SWVEET SPRINGS, VEST VIRGINIA.

SPOKE-SETTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,616, dated July 7, 1885.

Application filed October 20, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES PATTON LEWIS, of Sweet Springs, in the county of Monroe and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Spoke Setting and Gaging Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in spoke setting and gaging machines; and itconsists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate cor responding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a perspective view of my improved spoke setting and gaging machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a side view of the spoke-gage. Fig. 4 is an edge View of the gage.

The letter A indicates a bench-top or workbed, which is supported from the floor at a convenient height by legs a,suitably braced to each other. B is a heavy bolt or spindle, which is passed through the bench-top from below, and on which the wheel-hub G, into which the spokes D are to be driven, is placed; and to hold the hub firmly to place I place on it the washer-plate E, above which the heavy handlenut F is screwed upon the bolt B, and may be tightened on the plate E, to hold the hub to the bench while the spoke ends or tenons are being driven into the mortises c of the hub by a mallet or otherwise,

In the bed A, at one side of the bolt 13, is formed a slot, G, which extends radially toward the bolt B, and receives the spoke-gage H, which may be clamped firmly in place at any point along the slot by the washer-plates I and nuts J, the nuts being fitted to screwthreads on the exterior of the lower portion of the gage. The gage H has a head, It, up to which the spokes D are held as they are driven into the hub, and I provide the gage with graduations or scale-marks, as at K, to allow the head h to more conveniently be set at the proper height relatively to the position of the hub-m0rtises c, to give the proper dish to the spokes as they are driven into the huh.

To hold the spokes up to the head h of the gage, I provide a lever, L, which is pivoted to the bench at Z, and carries at its outer end the arm or bar M, which may be pressed by the lever against the lower edge or face of the entered spoke, and the lever then may be locked to place by passing a projection on its handle end into one of the teeth of a rack-bar, N, which is fixed to an upright, 0, held to the legframe. I show the raclcbar fixed to the outer face of the upright 0; but it may be fixed to its inner face, if desired. The class ticity of the lever when locked in the rackbar N causes the arm M to rise to accommodate the taper of the spoke and hold the spoke firmly against the head h of the gage H until the spoke is driven home in the hub.

It will be seen that by the aid of my simple machine the spokes may be driven into the hub very quickly and by unskilled labor, and so that every spoke shall have precisely the same slant or dish, which it is difficult for skilled workmen to accomplish by the usual methods. The slot G allows the gage H to be set at any desired distance from the hub to accommodate the length of the spokes. After each spoke is driven the nut F is loosened to allow the hub to be turned to carry the lastdriven spoke back from under the head it of the gage, and make room thereunder for the foilowing spoke but when all the spokes are driven into the hub it is desirable to remove or lower the gage H to allow the partly-formed wheel to be swung around on the bolt B as a center while the wheel-rim is fitted to the spokes; and to provide for this, and without unfastening the gage H from the bed A, I make the gage in two parts-an upper part, 1-1, to which the head It is fixed, and on which the scale K is marked, and a lower part, H on which the nuts and washer-plates I J are placed for securing the gage to the bed A. The parts H H may be held together in any manner allowing the removal of the part H; but I now prefer to hinge said parts together in any suitable mannersay by a tongue-andgroove joint and a pin, hso that the upper part, H, of the gage may quickly be folded down out of the way of the revolving spokes while the rim is being fitted to the wheel.

Any suitable device may be used to hold or lock the parts H H of the gage in line with each other while the spokes are being driven beneath the head hsuch as a slide-bolt in one part entering a socket in the other part; but I show for this purpose the spring 1?, which is secured at p to the part H, and has a stud or rib, p, which enters a notch or slot in the head of the part H, as will be understood from Fig. 4 of the drawings, and which makes a cheap, effective, and simple lock device.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a spoke setting and gaging machine, the combination, with the bed A, provided with the slot G, of the gage-body H, secured in the slot, and having the hinged head H, and means for locking the same in position,

' substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a spoke setting and gaging machine, the combination, with the bed A, provided with the slot G, of the gage-body H, secured in the slot, and having the hinged head H, means for locking the said head in position, the lever L, and the bar M on the end of the said lever and projecting through the slot of the bed, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. The combination, with the gagebody H, screw-threaded and provided with the nuts J J, of the head H, hinged to the body, and the spring-latch P, secured to the head and engaging the body, substantially as herein shown and described.

CHARLES P. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

L. P. Lnwrs, W. L. LEWIS. 

